


Matters of the Heart

by onewiththeuniverse



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Post-Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 13:11:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20817839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onewiththeuniverse/pseuds/onewiththeuniverse
Summary: Terra's heart may be his own now, and he may be free of Master Xehanort's influence, but he's a mess.  He's not sure if he'll ever feel like himself again.





	Matters of the Heart

Terra’s heart may be his own now, and he may be free of Master Xehanort’s influence, but he’s a mess. He’s not sure if he’ll ever feel like himself again.  
The darkness that has always been there is _still_ there, and it is still just as easy as it always was to bring up from the depths of his heart. The difference between now and then is that he’s more careful to _not_ call on it. Apparently, he and Riku are a bit similar in that regard. It’s nice knowing that he isn’t the only one who struggles with the darkness. And Riku is easy to get along with.  
Another difference between then and now is that he’s slower to trust people. It took a lot of convincing on Aqua’s part before he would believe Master Yen Sid was not an evil sorcerer. The man lived in a tower and kept sending the keyblade wielders off on missions.  
Okay, so the tower thing wasn’t evil, but it was creepy. Random floating staircases that terminated in portals? Definitely creepy. And Terra remembered enough of his other sort-of selves (namely Xemnas) that he knew sending others to do jobs was something evil masterminds did. Aqua and Mickey assured him that that was normal for keyblade wielders. So maybe Yen Sid wasn’t evil. It didn’t change the fact that he was mildly frightening. Not that Terra would ever admit _that._  
Axel/Lea was another person/individual/whatever he wasn’t sure he trusted. He’d served under Xemnas in the first Organization, he’d killed Vexen in its name, he plotted with Saïx, but then he’d left them all. And he was a keyblade wielder, too. Terra didn’t know where he stood. Axel/Lea seemed to feel the same way. He probably didn’t know what to make of his former boss-turned-actually-a-possessed-guy-turned-ally.  
Vexen, or Even, as he preferred to be called now, had been dedicated to the Organization. And then upon his recompletion, he’d decided to become a Nobody again in order to work against the Real Organization. After its final disbanding, he’d been recompleted once more. The scientist seemed wary of Terra. He probably, like Axel/Lea, remembered Xemnas very well.  
Saïx, or Isa, had apparently been just as traitorous as Marluxia and Larxene (and where were they?) except he was infinitely more devious. He was also friends with Axel/Lea, and like his friend, he seemed unsure of Terra. However, he wasn’t obvious about it like Axel/Lea, and he didn’t keep shooting Terra suspicious looks like Vexen/Even.  
Terra was a little more sure of Ienzo, the young man formerly known as Zexion. Like him, Ienzo had trusted those around him. Like him, Ienzo had been lied to. And he, Terra possessed of Master Xehanort’s heart, had been one of those who had lied to Ienzo. Ienzo didn’t seem to hold it against him, though. Whenever Terra was around, Ienzo would talk to him the same way that he spoke to everyone else. It was nice that Ienzo recognized that Terra was not the Apprentice Xehanort he had known.  
Ansem the Wise was another matter. The man had only known him as Xehanort. He seemed to want to get to know Terra as himself. And for that, Terra was grateful. But most of the time, Terra wasn’t sure that he knew himself.

When Master Eraqus had appeared, Terra had been surprised to say the least. He was also overjoyed to see the man who had been teacher, mentor, and father to him; sad because he knew that Eraqus was actually dead and it was _his_ fault; angry because the man had tried to kill Ven, and how could he do such a thing; and afraid that the man would be angry at him. But instead of being angry, Eraqus had looked sad. He’d asked their forgiveness. He’d admitted that he had been wrong, apologized for failing them, and asked Terra to look after Aqua and Ven. Terra still couldn’t understand how Eraqus could have tried to kill Ven in the first place, though. Aqua told him that masters were not infallible, and then told him about her brief fall to darkness.

Terra is also less interested in becoming a keyblade master. Sora doesn’t understand that. Ever since Sora learned there was such a thing, he wanted to be one. But Terra found that being possessed and losing his memories, splitting himself, and eventually recovering changed his priorities in life. Xemnas was gone; Ansem, Seeker of Darkness was gone; Apprentice Xehanort was gone; and Master Xehanort was gone. And although Terra is back, he is still putting himself together.


End file.
